Back to work I go!

So, I started back to work this past week, and let me tell you, the six weeks off just flew by. Eric watched Bailey for three days, and the first day did not go so well..... I wasn't home five minutes, and Bailey was fast asleep. Thankfully, the next two days went much more smoothly for him.

I forgot to post Bailey's two week stats, and I can't believe she will be two months in less than two weeks! At two weeks, she was 20 3/4 inches and 7 lbs 11 oz. I don't believe that she grew 1.5 inches in two weeks, so someone didn't measure her correctly!

Kya has been adjusting so well to Bailey and loves singing to her and "helping". Sometimes Bailey actually calms down immediately when Kya starts singing her made-up songs to her. I hope they are great friends. I know Bailey pays the most attention to her out of all of us.

Bailey has started cooing and "talking" with us when we talk to her, and she has started smiling more! Her first smile was around 1 month in a picture with Pop:

But she has shown me some really great ones lately, and I love how babies laugh and smile in their sleep. Sometimes I just rock her longer at night to see them!

One of our friends and former youth group students from Auburn came to visit us this past week before I went back to work. Abby was so helpful with Kya and Bailey. Kya of course loved showing Abby her playroom and even offered to let Abby sleep in her bed with her. We wish we got to see Abby more, and we enjoyed getting to visit with her so much!

Family of Four!

Sweet Bailey Hope Ballard was born on January 28, 2014 at 12:59 pm weighing in at 7 lbs 9 oz and 19 1/4 inches! She was born the day that they shut down all of Houston because of a Winter Weather Warning! Thankfully, things were not near as bad as they thought they would be, and I was able to get induced! It sleeted around town, but we got to the hospital way ahead of the weather.

I'm not sure how, but this labor was even easier than Kya's. I tried to go without the epidural, but around 6 cm, I gave in and asked for it. This time I did not have to wait an hour and a half for an anesthesiologist to get to the hospital like I did in Auburn! I think I waited 5-10 minutes! My doctor was in a C-section when Bailey started trying to come out.... My nurse was amazing and kept reassuring me that if Bailey came, she could deliver her. The doctor was one of my dearest and oldest friend's bestest friend from residency, so I really wanted her to deliver Bailey, and thankfully, I was able to hold on until she could make it to my room! I think I pushed twice, and she popped out. I know - people hate me - I pushed for 15 minutes with Kya and I thought that was short!

When they told me Bailey was 7lbs 9oz, I started laughing - she was almost a pound bigger than Kya, and they were both born at exactly 39 weeks. The nurse kept commenting on how she was absolutely perfect - she said not even a birth mark on this child. I just felt so blessed and thankful. When I finally got to hold her for longer than two seconds after she was all cleaned up, I couldn't help but notice how she looked so much like Kya. They definitely have the same exact nose. Bailey also had very plump and kissable cheeks from the very start (I have taken full advantage of those sweet things and kiss them all the time).

It's funny how much calmer and less stressed out you are with the second child. I remember when we left the hospital with Kya, we were like - how can they trust us to take her home?!?!. With Bailey, they offered to let us go home after 24 hours, and we were like, yes, please! I was so ready to sleep in my bed and not be checked on at all hours of the night.

Kya has been amazing with Bailey, and she is so proud to be a big sister (minus the "Don't cough in your sister's face.", "Please don't get that close to her face.", "Don't step on her!!!!"). Grams and Big Daddy took great care of her while we were in the hospital (and super-mega cleaned my house) and took her back to their house for a few days, so she could be spoiled and give me time to rest up and heal. Eric and I so appreciated them! I also have to give a shout out to my parents who came down and helped us when I had my false labor and then, came and helped after Bailey finally got here. We had clean clothes and meals and Kya was taken care of! I seriously don't know how we would have done it without the help from our awesome parents. We are so blessed to have both sets of grandparents be so involved in our girls' lives and that truly help us out!!!

One more thing about Bailey - she has been a great sleeper as well - once I figured out what I was eating that was making her so gassy (stupid oranges). She also does not like having any poop on her - Kya would sit in it and we would never know unless we checked, but Bailey will scream like there is no tomorrow if she has a dirty diaper. She has this bug-eyed look about her when she is awake that makes me laugh so hard! I'm going to treasure these last few weeks I have at home with her, and I am trying not to think about how sad I am going to be to leaver her at daycare. I am so thankful that I absolutely love the place that we will be taking her.

Christmas time!

December was a fun month! Kya went to a brunch with Santa in Bentwater with my parents and me. We had a great time talking to Santa and eating some awesome food! It was our last trip up to Bentwater before Bailey comes! Next time we go, we will have two girls!

Then, Kya had her first TOT performance at Peter Piper Pizza (or Pizza Piper Pizza as Kya called it). It was her first performance for anything, so we were those parents with a camera and video camera! I got a little teary watching her - I hope I don't cry at everything she does. Geez!

Christmas was a whirlwind! I had saved up my vacation, so I had a week and a half off of work. We went to Zoo Lights at the Houston Zoo, and it was so much fun!

Kya was sick on the 23rd, but thankfully, it was just a quick virus that she passed on to Eric and me.... I got to see Bailey for the last time on the 23rd, and she looked great with a full head of hair. She is measuring in the 36th percentile, so she might be smaller than Kya. We spent Christmas Eve celebrating with Nan, Pop, and Uncle Abel. Nana and Pop Noah helped Kya transform her room from a toddler room to a big girl room (still need to take pictures....), and gave her some other toys including some Doc McStuffins stuff of course. Uncle Abel was super pumped that Kya has a new obsession with Ninja (or Ninjan) Turtles, so he got her a collector's edition van that he had when he was a little boy. She absolutely loved it.

On Christmas Day, we opened presents as a family, and then, Grams and Big Daddy and Fletch came to spend a few days with us! Santa brought Kya a bunch of Doc McStuffins things, Sofia the First toys, and Ninjan Turtles! Santa got all of us Ninjan Turtle masks. The day after Christmas, Grams, Kya, and I went to take advantage of discounted Christmas items, and we found another small Christmas tree for Bailey's room to match Kya's. My favorite quote from Kya comes in the form of a song:
"Save me Hal-lay, Welcome Christmas time." - These are the words Paul McCartney meant to write for: "Simply having a wonderful Christmas time." We would repeatedly sing the correct words, and Kya would insist that we were wrong every time! I have no idea where she gets her know-it-all attitude....

We celebrated Eric's birthday on the 27th by going out to eat at Vic and Anthony's downtown. We finally used a giftcard my brother got us for my birthday back in June. Then, we went shopping at REI and Barnes and Noble. Eric and I enjoyed spending some time together before our Bailey Button gets here - so thankful for Grams and Big Daddy watching Kya while we enjoyed a day to ourselves. At night, we all went to Antonio's in Deer Park, so Eric could have pizza from his favorite place. Kya picked out the Ninjan Turtle decorations for Eric's birthday!

Thanksgiving!

We had Thanksgiving with Grams and Big Daddy the second weekend in November, and Kya enjoyed helping Grams do her cooking! We also had fun playing miniature golf at the resort in their neighborhood!

Then, we had Thanksgiving with Nana and Pop Noah during Thanksgiving week. I had the whole week off, and we enjoyed a lot of family time! We took Kya to see Santa at the outlet mall in Conroe, and she ran up and gave him a huge hug - big improvement from 2 years ago!

October!!!

We have had a busy month! Grams and Big Daddy came for a visit, and Kya enjoyed getting to spend time with them! Later in the month, we took Kya to the pumpkin patch close to our house, and she enjoyed picking out her own pumpkin and looking at all the decorations. I was repeatedly told that we needed to buy more decorations for house because we were not ready for Halloween. Kya loves to decorate.

Nana and Pop Noah took Kya to a farm close to their house in Montgomery while I was helping Eric with Fall Retreat, and she absolutely loved the corn maze and all the fun stuff to do there.

On Halloween, we went to our church for some trick or treating and then, we trick or treated in our neighborhood. I love that our neighborhood gets packed with kids - even though, probably 75% of the people don't live here. It's still fun to see everyone dressed up.

Baycation!!!!

We had our last vacation as a family of three because next year we will have two little girls with us! We had a great time at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi and then, we went on to South Padre or Soulah Padre for three nights. We enjoyed playing at the beach and pool! The one day we went exploring around the island and Port Isabel, we kept showing up right as things were closing! It was kind of hysterical.... I decided that I needed a job in the tourism industry because literally everything is closed by 4:30....

Kya quotes of the week:
"I don't like bugs in my room." - This was after we got to move rooms the last night because there was an infestation of ants in our room.

"4 minutes." - When I asked what time it was or how much longer - this is what Kya said.

"I like that man. He gave me 3 presents." - We went to BurgerFi (one in the Woodlands), and the manager kept giving Kya BurgerFi stuff.

"Call me Ariel." - She would only answer to Ariel and referred to herself as Ariel especially when we were at the beach.

Summer Already?!?

I can't believe it is June already! It seems like we were just celebrating Easter. It is so crazy to me how kids can change so much even in a few weeks.

Kya now only wants to wear dresses. She also likes to wear dress-up dresses like Cinderella and Dora with her crown - in public. We let her wear her Dora dress to a graduation party, and from then on, she wanted to wear it everywhere! Thank goodness it started falling apart!

She also does not like to get anything on her clothes. If she gets even a hint of water on them, she starts screaming until you take them off. We have had many nights where we just let her run around in her underwear because she has changed clothes a few times. I try to explain to her the water will dry, but she still wants the dress/shirt/shorts off immediately. I'm not really sure why this started.

She likes for you to refer to her as princess. If I try to call her by her other nicknames like little sweetness, she will say, "I'm not little sweetness, I'm princess."

I will say this - she is the sweetest girl (I'm sure everyone thinks their daughter/son is the sweetest, but Kya really is!). She gives the best hugs and kisses. Sometimes she will hold my face and plant one right on my lips and then, say, "Ewwww, Mama!". I guess this is from us telling her when people kiss on the mouth on tv, it's gross. She still kisses by clicking her tongue to make the sound of a kiss. It makes me laugh every time.

I am enjoying this age so much. She says the most hilarious things. I love it! If we can only tone down her bossiness....I have no idea where she gets that from. :).